The project is developed on a triangular plot for which Harquitectes proposed a longitudinal circulation with transversal communications, opening the space for better transit within the block and avoiding unsafe dead-end corners, which allows better access to the public spaces of the set.
The project adapts to the slope of the plot and allows the creation of landscaped spaces around it, in which the process of anthropization is reduced. The buildings are generated through an aggregation system that maximizes the relationships between living spaces and the environment, with large open-access corridors and continuous terraces along the entire façade.
Social housing 1737 by Harquitectes. Photograph by Adrià Goula.
Each house is configured by a series of equal, non-hierarchical modules, which can be used as a living room, kitchen, or bedroom. Each room is surrounded by transition spaces to the outside, making all homes have cross ventilation.
The houses have rooms facing the outside, which in turn are close to a central atrium where the services and circulation of the houses are concentrated. 3 continuous rings are configured; terrace, program, and circulation, leaving the very compact nuclei of vertical communication inside the atrium.
The complex is resolved with a hybrid structure of screens and concrete slabs -separating houses- combined with slender screened pillars that allow very short and efficient spans while characterizing the space of each of the rooms.
Social Housing 1737 by Harquitectes. Photograph by Adrià Goula.
Description of project by Harquitectes
The volumetric organization of this project encourages the biological and recreational continuity between the Serra de les Ferreres zone and the Llobregat Agricultural Park in Gavà, Catalonia, complementing the longitudinal circulation with new transversal links that facilitate access to the block. Opening the interior corners of the complex prevents potentially insecure dead zones, while the staggered buildings adapt to the natural slope of the plot.
The entire parking zone is placed in the projection of the building to foster a landscaped garden with leafy trees. Only the paths leading to the stairs receive minimal paving; the rest of the land is used as a drainage area to manage the water cycle and consolidate the growth of native shrubs and almonds, carob, and olive trees. Wood and vegetation complement the materiality of the concrete outer walls.
As the plot provides good views and pleasant surroundings, an additive system generates the building and intensifies relations between the inhabited spaces and their environs. All rooms face outward, toward the landscape. At the same time, however, these rooms enclose a cloister-like central atrium where the services and circulations are concentrated, giving generous natural light and cross ventilation to all the spaces.
Social housing 1737 by Harquitectes. Photograph by Adrià Goula.
The project shapes 3 continuous rings - terrace, program, and circulation - with the compact vertical communication cores placed inside the atrium to serve 4 dwellings per level. This layout yields 136 apartments. The central atrium, a sheltered and slightly tempered space, ventilates the stairwell, nuances the dwellings, and makes the residences more comfortable.
Each apartment is shaped by a series of identical non-hierarchical modules, each 10.6 m², which can be used as a living room, kitchen, or bedroom, with outward-facing transition spaces surrounding each room. Along the outer wall, a continuous 1.5-meter-wide balcony runs toward the atrium while an almost symmetric corridor space acts like a glazed porch and converts bathrooms, storage space, or lounge room annexes. Designed as a denser plinth, the ground floor does not use the atrium directly. More conventional, compact typologies are employed to resolve the vestibules, following the same spatial matrix.
A hybrid structure with screens and concrete slabs separates the dwellings, combined with structural concrete slim pillars that permit short, efficient spans and characterize the space in each room.
